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Friday, 24 April 2015

Every
herb lover has their own favourite story about dandelions (Taraxacum officinale). Brigitte Mars has written a whole book about
the plant. Susun Weed has an entertaining chapter written in a French accent in
her original Menopause book about dandelion and virtually every herb book
mentions it either as part of the materia medica or in passing. It is a versatile and valuable plant.

Dandelion
is native to both Europe and Asia as part of the Asteracea family. There are
many, many species which live happily side by side. You may be lulled into
thinking the leaves and roots are the only parts used since the various actions
of digestive, bitter tonic, diuretic, mild laxative, cholagogue, depurative,
anti-inflammatory and antilithic are only applied to those two areas of the
plant.

Historically,
this may have been the case, along with applying the flower stem sap to warts,
but there is one other part, the flower which also has a variety of interesting
and beneficial uses. Spring is the time when flowers burst upon the scene in
all their golden glory but it is still possible to come across them in
sheltered corners at the edge of winter.

If
you want to harvest dandelion roots at their most bitter, dig them in early spring
when all the sugars gathered during the summer have been used. The roots can be
tinctured fresh or dried or can be stored as dry roots for a tea or decoction
through the year. If you are drying the roots it is best to slice them into one
inch lengths and half them if the root is particularly thick.

I
like to harvest my roots in autumn when they are fat and sweet. My favourite
recipe is to make a bitter. You can also make dandelion root vinegar and eat
the pickled roots in salads.

Dandelion Bitter

Take a mixture of roasted and fresh dandelion roots.
Add a handful of fresh or dried orange peel, 1tsp dried ginger or ½-1 inch diced
or grated root ginger plus a small handful of either brown or green cardamom
pods for added warming effect.

Fill a glass jar with chopped root, peel and spices, cover with vodka for 3
weeks in dark cold place, strain and use. Dose is ½ -1 tsp. 15 minutes before
eating or after a heavy meal to release stagnant feeling.

The
root is mildly laxative and acts as a bitter digestive and liver tonic,
enhancing both appetite and digestion, increasing the flow of digestive juices
and aiding absorption. Where there are
no obstructions, it supports the liver in its function as a major detoxifying
organ. Dandelion is recommended in liver and gall bladder problems, hepatitis
and problems associated with a sluggish liver which may manifest as tiredness,
irritability, headaches and skin problems.

Dandelion’s
ability to stimulate bile secretion means that it is contra-indicated if you
have an obstruction in the bile duct or gallbladder. I know to my cost that
taking a bitter during an inflammatory gall bladder attack makes the pain much
worse!

It
has anti-inflammatory properties and can be used to treat arthritis and
rheumatism. It is thought to increase the flow of insulin from the pancreas so
may be helpful in supporting people with diabetes.

Dandelion
leaves support the kidneys. Their diuretic properties make them useful in water
retention, cellulitis and urinary tract infections. Unlike pharmaceutical diuretics
which leach potassium from the body, sometimes in dangerous levels, dandelion
leaves have a high potassium content, pleasing that lost through increased
urination. The leaves can also dissolve stone and gravel, improving the elimination
of uric acid, thus making it a helpful remedy for gout.

If
you want to harvest leaves, it is best to gather them before flowers appear as
the bitterness of the leaves becomes stronger and makes them less palatable. If
you want to make a dandelion leaf soup with other vegetables, look for the
youngest, sweetest leaves, but even the oldest can make a fresh accompaniment
to strong cheese sandwiches.

Dandelion’s
ability to increase elimination of toxins and waste products through the liver
and kidneys, make it a wonderful ally for skin issues. It can be used for spots, acne, boils and abscesses
often through applications of both leaf and flower infusions. Do be aware that
the milky latex in the older leaves and flower stem can cause dermatitis in
some people.

Dandelion
flowers make one of the first flower essences of the year. Their energetic
signature brings joy throughout the year.

Dandelion flower
essence

Fill
a glass jar or bowl with spring water, cover with dandelion flowers and leave
in the sun for three hours. Remove the flowers with a twig or clean spoon and
measure 50ml of infused liquid into a jug or glass bottle. Add an equal amount
of brandy to preserve the infusion. This is the mother essence and can be
diluted further to make a stock essence. Dose is three drops under the tongue
three times a day or every half hour in a crisis. Drops can also be added to a glass
of water and sipped.

Dandelion
flowers also have an affinity with breast tissue and can used to break up
benign congestion through appropriate massage. NB Always get any abnormality in
breast tissue checked first! The oil can also be used for light muscle massage
to relieve pain.

Dandelion Flower Oil

Pick
an amount of dandelion flowers and divide into two. Place half of the herb
inside the inner pan if you are suing a
double boiler or inside a glass jar or plastic bowl if you are using a slow
cooker and cover with sunflower oil (or
your oil of choice). Replace the lid firmly and place inside the other saucepan
or slow cooker which is about half filled with water. Heat the external
saucepan so that the water gently boils. Do
not let the pan boil dry! Boil for about 2 hours, then remove the inner pan
and strain off the oil, squeezing the herb if you can to remove as much oil as
possible. Place the rest of the herb inside the inner pan and pour over the oil
from the first infusion. Replace the lid firmly and heat the oil in the outer
pan for a further two hours. Strain the oil into a heated glass bottle or jar
and cap with a screw top lid. If using fresh herb, let the infused oil sit for
about three days to make sure any water content separates out. Decant oil. If
water drops are left in the infused oil it will go off more quickly. Label the
oil with the name and date that you made it.

Make
a salve by heating 1oz of beeswax with 8-10 fluid ounces of infused oil. Pour
into clean jars but do not seal until cold.A mixture of dandelion and violet leaf oils make a really nice breast
tissue massage medium.

Dandelion flowers also make delightful syrups either on
their own or mixed with hawthorn flowers and red clover in spring or rosehips and sloes in
autumn.

Derbyshire DelightPick an amount of fresh
dandelions, red clover flowers and stalks and hawthorn flowers. Remove
the dandelion petals and centres from any green bits. Place in a
saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer gently
for 20 minutes. Strain and measure liquid. Clean saucepan. Return liquid
to the pan and simmer with the lid off until the liquid is reduced by
7/8s. Add honey in the ratio of 1pint to1lb honey. Stir gently until
honey is dissolved. Pour into heated, sterilized bottles. Seal when
cold. Label and date.

Whatever the season, dandelion will be by your side to offer comfort, healing or joy in the world around you.

Thursday, 16 April 2015

Brambles (Rubus fruticosus) grow everywhere.
David Attenborough once called them the most efficient and aggressive coloniser
of any free space. The perennial bush produces biennial stems which arch or
trail along the ground bearing large thorns to deter predators. Blackberries
are produced from the second year stem and have been eaten by animals and
humans for thousands of years.

Many people
consider brambles to be vicious and unforgiving. I thought the same until I
began using different parts of the bush medicinally. Now I count it a useful
resource available all year round. It’s astringent properties are often ignored
by herbalists in favour of its domesticated cousin, raspberry, (Rubus idaeus)
but it has many similar properties and is free!

Bramble
foraging begins in winter, when the roots can be harvested for vinegar along
with general woodland, hedgerow, field or garden clearing. It is a useful
remedy for diarrhoea and has been known to give relief from the pain of IBS
flare-ups. I’ve used it to calm my digestive system down when faced with a
stressful day which began with a long car journey, especially when time was
tight and did not allow frequent comfort stops.

Bramble vinegar

Dig up at
least six bramble roots. Cut the new leaves from any briars before discarding.
Remove excess soil from roots then scrub in cold water until all soil is
removed. Rinse roots in fresh water and chop into small, 1 inch pieces with
secuteurs. Place bramble leaves in a large glass jar (2lbs) and snip with long
scissors. Add the root pieces and cover with cider vinegar. Poke well with a
chopstick to remove air bubbles and fill the jar again so no part of the root
or leaf is exposed to the air. Egg shells can be added if you want extra
mineral content. These will disappear over time as they are dissolved by the
vinegar. Label and date the jar.

Place in a
warm, dark place for three weeks, shaking occasionally. Strain off all the
roots and leaves, squeezing leaves to remove excess vinegar. Strain the vinegar
again through a fine sieve or kitchen paper to remove any soil. Pour into clean
bottle with screw top lid. Label and date the bottle.

Use in salad
dressings, when making stock to extract minerals from bones or with honey and
boiling water to make a soothing drink. If taking medicinally, add 1tsp of
vinegar to a small amount of water (I usually add 1-2 tsps. to a shot glass
full of water) and sip.

Brambles in spring

It can be a
privilege handling the spring roots of bramble. You see the old, hard wood of
the previous year and new, red-tinged shoots. It provides a totally new
perspective on spring and on this plant. It can be a wonderful experience
sitting on a warm patio in the sunshine stroking the velvet softness of new
leaves and combing through the root hairs with your fingers prior to scrubbing.

If you want
to make a different vinegar, add half roots and half newly emerging
shoots to your jar.

Bramble
shoots, seen before the leaves fully emerge can be harvested and either eaten
raw or lightly sautéed in butter to make a delightful addition to a foraged
meal. They have their own unique flavour – a mixture of “green” and nutty –
which is both unexpected and very pleasant. Don’t try to eat fully formed
leaves as they have barbs on the underside.

Both the
leaves and the insides of brambles with the thorns and hard exterior removed can be made into a
stomach calming tea which is particularly helpful for children.

Blackberry Flower Essence

When
blackberry flowers emerge, a flower remedy can be made from them. All you need
is a clean glass bowl, jam jar or drinking glass, enough flowers to cover the
top and spring or purified water. Fill the bowl with water and sprinkle the
flowers on the surface of the water so it is entirely covered. Leave the bowl
outside in sunshine for three hours. Remove the flowers with something other
than metal or your hand e.g. a stick and pour 50ml of fluid into a clean dark
bottle. Add 50 ml of brandy. Label the bottle and date.

Blackberry
Flower Essence helps to translate goals and intentions into action by connecting
someone more effectively with their will. The soul has many lofty visions and
desires but may be unable to manifest what needs to be achieved. Such people
are often quite perplexed about the gap between their aims and what they
actually accomplish. They give much consideration to their intentions but lack
the ability to organize these thoughts into specific priorities, or to manifest
and execute such goals.

On an energetic level, such people often have a great deal of light around the
head, which does not radiate and circulate throughout the body. The blood is
often sluggish, as is the entire lower metabolism. As the light comes more into
the limbs, the soul feels greater inner power to take real action in the world
and to translate what is spiritual into actual change in the world. Blackberry
flower essence helps to chanel this radiant, awakened light to the will-life of
the human soul.

As summer
moves into autumn, blackberry flowers mature into drupes and produce the
familiar blackberry. Not every black berry is the same as there are over three
hundred varieties of both blackberry and dewberry, several of which can
co-exist and hybridise in the same field.

Blackberries are
an ancient remedy for combatting diarrhoea and dysentery. I learned my home
nursing from my mother. She taught me to starve anyone with a tummy bug for 24
hours and then gradually introduce dry and easily digested food whilst offering
suitable fluids throughout to keep the sufferer hydrated.

If symptoms
don’t improve after three days, seek medical advice (earlier with young
children). Whole blackberries shaken with powdered cinnamon can be helpful in
managing loose stools. The eclectic American herbalist, Ellingwood used to offer
a blackberry cordial, made in a similar fashion to elderberry cordial, as a
drink.

If you are
looking for some thing to help improve access to vitamin C either for yourself
and your family, a tasty syrup can be made from blackberries and rosehips.

Wash the blackberries and rosehips. Place in a heavy bottomed saucepan and
cover with water. Simmer over a low heat for half an hour. Mash the
blackberries and rosehips to a pulp with a potato masher and cook on the lowest
heat for another 15-30 minutes. Strain the liquid through a plastic sieve and
measure the volume. Wash out the saucepan. Return the liquid to the pan
together with a lb of runny honey for every pint of liquid. Heat gently until
honey is dissolved. Add juice of a lemon. This can now be poured into clean,
sterile bottles and sealed and kept in the fridge to use with children and
anyone who doesn't like/can't have alcohol. To preserve the syrup without
keeping in a fridge (but in a cold place) add alcohol to taste. Using 1/4pint
alcohol to every pint of original liquid should be an adequate preservative.

You can make
jams, jellies and pies with blackberries on their own, but the flavour is very
strong. Blackberries reduce the amount of sugar/sweetening you need to add to
apples and makes a better flavour combination and texture. If you are cooking
for anyone with crumbling or sensitive teeth it is better to sieve the
blackberries before adding to any cooking.

Blackberry and apple puree

Peel, core
and slice 2-3 large cooking apples and add to a saucepan together with 1-2
large handfuls of washed blackberries. Add sugar and a dash of water (put
saucepan under cold tap for one second) then heat the saucepan gently with
stirring and simmer until the apples are soft. Sieve the mixture to remove all
pips and serve as a fruit fool (by adding ½ pint cold puree to ½ pint cold
thick custard to ½ pint double cream), with natural yoghurt, cream or custard.
The puree freezes well.

Blackberry and apple pie

Fill the
bottom of a pie dish with peeled, cored and sliced cooking apples and
blackberries in the ratio of 2/3:1/3. Sprinkle sugar over the top and a small
amount of water. Put a pie centre in the middle of the dish. Make approximately
4oz of shortcrust pastry (4ozs flour, 1oz vegetable fat or lard plus 1oz
margarine or butter). Roll out the pastry. Cut a ½” strip of pastry to sit on
the top of the pie dish edge then brush this with milk. Lift the remainder of
the pastry to cover the pie dish and crimp the edges together with the strip of
lining. Brush the top of the pie with egg wash and cook in a medium oven for 20
minutes or until golden brown.

Blackberry and apple crumble

Peel, core
and slice 2-3 large cooking apples and place in the bottom of a pie dish
together with 1-2 good handfuls of washed blackberries. Sprinkle with sugar and
add a small dash of water into the bottom of the dish. Make the crumble topping
by rubbing together 4 ozs. flour with 2 ozs. of margarine or butter until they
resemble breadcrumbs. Add 2 tblsps sugar and mix well. Pour the crumble over
the fruit, knocking the edges of the pie dish carefully with your palm to
ensure the crumble is evenly spread. Do not push the crumble mixture down
firmly with your hand or a spoon. Cook in a medium oven for 15-20 minutes until
done.

Blackberry and apple jam

4 lbs
blackberries

1/2pt water

1.5lbs
cooking/sour apples (prepared weight)

6lbs sugar

Pick over and
wash the blackberries, place in a pan with 1/4pt water and simmer slowly until
soft. Peel, core and slice apples and add the remaining 1/4pt water. Simmer
slowly until soft and make into a pulp with a spoon or potato masher. Add the
blackberries and sugar, bring to the boil and boil rapidly, stirring frequently
until a setting point is reached. Pour into sterilised jars and cover. (Makes
about 10lbs jam.)

Blackberry and apple jelly

4lb
blackberries

2lbs cooking
or crab apples

2pts water

Wash the
blackberries. Wash and cut up the apples without peeling or coring. Put the
fruit in the pan with the water and cook for about 1 hour until the fruit is
really soft and turned to pulp. Strain through a jelly cloth overnight. Measure
the extract and return it to the pan with 1lb sugar to every 1 pint liquid.
Heat gently and stir until all the sugar is dissolved then boil rapidly until
the setting point is reached. Remove any scum with a slotted spoon before
pouring into small, sterilised jars and seal.

Sunday, 12 April 2015

When a blogger fails to post for a long time, regular
readers may wonder what is happening in real life to cause such silence. I
rarely post about family events but on 9th February my mother died, following a
long, debilitating struggle with ischaemic dementia which left her unable to
move, speak or see. Death is a journey we all face alone and those who watch
and share and wait can only wonder and hopefully grow through their own lessons
offered during this time.

In my last paid employment, I spent eight years travelling
around England training various organisations, including community nurses and
army welfare officers, how to cope with loss and bereavement. I learned a great
deal from the stories people shared and was able to make suggestions about
things to look out for following bereavement.

The first was the lowering of immune health by grief which
often causes the first twelve months to be fraught with viral infections and
other more serious conditions, especially if a carer has neglected their own
health to look after the person during the final period of their life.

The second was a propensity towards accidents and other
events caused by a lowering of attention span or inability to be “sensible” or
even to process information.

You could say that my gall bladder issues have stemmed from
providing support to my parents over the years and neglecting my own health. On
Thursday, March 26th 2015, I managed to burn/scald myself by tipping
an overfull pan of boiling bolognaise sauce over my left thigh whilst trying to
keep our back door from flying open in the wind. Whilst I was more concerned
about losing half the contents of the saucepan, the accident provided a
wonderful opportunity to learn about treating burns at home with herbs and
other household products.

The general UK advice about treating burns can be found here . It says

Stop the burning process
as soon as possible. This may mean removing the person from the area,
dousing flames with water or smothering flames with a blanket. Do not put
yourself at risk of getting burnt as well.

Remove any clothing or jewellery
near the burnt area of skin. However, don't try to remove
anything that is stuck to the burnt skin because this could cause more
damage.

Cool the burn with cool or lukewarm water
for 10 to 30 minutes, ideally within 20 minutes of the injury occurring.
Never use ice, iced water or any creams or greasy substances such as
butter.

Keep yourself or the person warm.
Use a blanket or layers of clothing, but avoid putting them
on the injured area. Keeping warm will prevent hypothermia,
where a person's body temperature drops below 35ºC (95ºF). This is a risk
if you are cooling a large burnt area, particularly in young children
and elderly people.

Cover the burn with cling film.
Put the cling film in a layer over the burn, rather than wrapping it
around a limb. A clean clear plastic bag can be used for burns on your
hand.

Treat the pain from a burn with paracetamolor ibuprofen.
Always check the manufacturer's instructions when using over-the-counter
(OTC) medication. Children under 16 years of age should not be given aspirin.

What it doesn’t tell you is anything to aid the cooling or
healing process. Nor does it identify first (reddened skin) or second
(blisters) degree burns but only tells you when to head for hospital for

large or
deep burns – any burn bigger than the affected person's hand

full
thickness burns of all sizes – these burns cause white or charred skin

partial
thickness burns on the face, hands, arms, feet, legs or genitals – these
are burns that cause blisters

has
a medical condition such as heart, lung or liver disease, or diabetes

has a
weakened immune system (the body's defence system), for example because of
HIV or
AIDS, or because they're having chemotherapy for
cancer

Although my burn measured the distance from my knee to a
hand’s width up my thigh with two blisters measuring 1” by ½”, I decided I
preferred to stay at home rather than spend up to four hours in a crowded
A&E department. It’s been a while
since I looked at first aid treatments for burns so I was unaware of the advice
to cover with clingfilm. I did know the aim was to keep the skin intact if
possible to reduce the chance of incurring infection.

After dropping the saucepan I removed my socks and trousers
and rushed upstairs to kneel in the bath with my thigh under a running cold tap
for as long as I could. I moved, reluctantly, when my toes told me they were
developing frost bite. Then I sliced off two large aloe vera leaves from the
triffid which sprawls over our upstairs window and lay on the sofa daubing the
juice from the centre of the leaf onto the entire area of the burn.

It is amazing how aloe vera removes heat from burns. It is
also really important NOT to treat a burn with any oil or salve until ALL the
heat has gone. This is because oil traps heat underneath the application.

If you don’t have any aloe vera plants or juice then look to
other cooling herbs – elderflower, rose, chamomile, bergamot (preferably wild monada fistulosa). These can be applied
as a tea, herbal water or diluted infused herbal vinegar.

After a couple of hours, I used a St John’s wort salve that
I had to hand since St John’s wort is specific for healing burns. I covered the
burn area with clean cotton fabric (I use a piece of old sheet for most of my
first aid treatments!) fastened at each end with micropore tape. I wanted the
burn to be open to the air so it didn’t become soggy.

I didn’t take any painkillers because the soreness
disappeared after the first night of sleep and the burn itself was only painful
thereafter if pressed.

I continued treating with St John’s wort for three days. I
was concerned that the blisters were still filled with liquid, so on the fourth
day decided to try a honey poultice. I mixed calendula (for skin healing), St
John’s wort and yarrow( to reduce any inflammation) oils with a teaspoon of
honey (a gift from Cornish herbalist, Nick Jones, last August) and spread it
over the wound. When using an oily poultice like this you do need to add a
plastic backing unless you want stains all over your clothes!

Two days after applying the honey poultice, all the blisters
had dried up and the burned skin area was diminishing. I then made up a salve
from calendula, St John’s wort and yarrow and this has been applied twice daily
ever since.

It takes at least three weeks for a burn to heal. I’m really
pleased with how my burn is progressing. It itches occasionally which tells me new skin
is growing. I try very hard not to scratch!

Two things I might have done differently would be to have
applied a cooling vinegar or flower water after the aloe vera and not applied
the salve until before bedtime (around 12 hours after the accident).Knowing now how effective the honey was, I
would have applied the poultice sooner and maybe made two applications (one per
day) for two or more days. If the wound
had been worse I could also have applied a marshmallow root poultice to keep
the area moisturised.

This summer I am also going to make a burns honey from
apothecary’s rose, bergamot and evening primrose flowers. I made a jar several
years ago when Kiva Rose Hardin first posted her recipe but no-one suffered
with any burns so I ate the honey instead! Kiva Rose recommends the honey for
burns where there is a chance of infection. Given how successful ordinary honey
is at drawing moisture from a burn blister, I can see how an infused herbal
honey would be even better.

Everyone hopes accidents will not happen but if they do,
they provide a useful opportunity to learn new skills.

Saturday, 4 April 2015

Before approaching any condition, it’s as well to
understand what is happening in the body before starting to treat.Gout is one of those which affect joints but
is not a form of arthritis. It is incredibly painful, can occur at any age and
usually reoccurs unless changes to lifestyle and diet are adhered to.

Historically it has been associated with overweight,
red-faced old men who love their roast beef and port and there are many
depictions of such people in both eighteenth and nineteenth century cartoons
and later novels. The sufferer’s pain has been seen as a cause of hilarity and
general dismissal.

Put simply, gout is caused by an inability to process
lactic acid which leads to a precipitation of uric acid crystals in joints instead
of being excreted in urine. This may come from a genetic insufficiency. It is
often caused by a diet rich in purines (a component of protein) coupled with
large body mass and an underactive digestion.

Gout can happen to anyone, male or female at any age. It
can occur in any joint but is most frequently experienced in toes or hands. In my experience, gout usually occurs

They are all equally important. Once the initial attack
is over, it is tempting for the sufferer to return to his or her previous
lifestyle and ‘just avoid the food which triggers an attack.’

Unfortunately it
is not that simple. Just because you are not in pain does not mean you are now
effectively processing lactic acid. Uric acid crystals may still be building up in
your joints and causing damage. It is best to make some long-term lifestyle
changes and develop strategies to ensure your good health unless you are
content to develop a chronic condition.

Let us look at the four areas in turn

Pain
relief

Perhaps
the most effective painkiller for gout is potato juice, 4-6 fluid ozs of juice
made from uncooked potatoes taken every hour. It tastes dreadful and must be
drunk fresh but does the trick. More palatable may be cherry, blackcurrant or
blueberry juice (unsweetened). The dose is 6 to 8 ozs of “black/blue” fruit a day (fresh or
frozen). Taken for two weeks, this
dosage will lower uric acid and will help to prevent attacks by reducing levels
of uric acid.

Cherries and other dark red berries (hawthorn berries
and blueberries) contain anthocyanidins which increase collagen integrity and
decrease inflammation.You could also
take 8 to 16 fl ozs. of cherry juice per day. A lower, maintenance dose of 4 fl
ozs. per day can be continued as a preventative measure to guard against new
attacks.A supplement with high levels
of proanthocyanadins can be used in addition during crisis or instead of
cherries and blueberries during non-crisis times.

Reducing inflammation and eliminating uric acid crystals

These two factors need to be tackled together. When my husband
developed gout in his hand following an incredibly stressful time at work, the
doctor only prescribed anti-inflammatories which, to me, seemed worse than
useless so I went to my herbs and he recovered quickly.

I used David Hoffman’s tried and tested formula of equal
parts celery seed, burdock and yarrow. Wild carrot is another herbal diruretic
which could be used. A gout sufferer needs to increase water intake
significantly to help eliminate the uric acid crystals, so I made the celery
seed (1tsp) and yarrow (1tsp) into a tea and added 1 tsp of burdock tincture as
that was all I had available. Ideally alcohol
should be excluded completely from the diet during an attack but I didn’t
know this at the time. This dose is taken three times a day.

The principal reason
for increasing liquid consumption (think 6-8 glasses per day) is to try to
dilute the contents of the blood so that uric acid has less chance of
precipitating out and depositing in the synovial fluid around joints.

Juices start to oxidize immediately they come into
contact with air, so should be made fresh every time. If you are making a juice
from fresh cherries, remove the stones first before juicing, otherwise you will
damage your machine.

Lifestyle
changes

Peter Bryam, a Connecticut herbalist, believes that gout
can only be successfully treated with a complete lifestyle change to reduce any
excess body mass and to maintain a diet which reduces or removes the chance of
uric acid precipitation. He recommends a diet comprised of

·

Protein
70% of Calories

Fat
12 -15% of Calories

Fiber
5-18% of Calories

He also suggests short juice fasts, which include
supplementation with "super food" complexes, followed by a diet very
low in purines if you are trying to lose weight. He warns against any kind of
fast where only water is drunk because this will cause concentration of toxins
and precipitate a gout crisis.

Bryam has put together a set of dietary
"standards" or rules for individuals with gout.

Eliminate
homogenized milk as it may be a source of xanthene oxidase which will increase
levels of uric acid.It may be necessary
to switch to soy or nut milks.

Significantly
restrict or completely eliminate purines in the diet.Purines are organic compounds that contribute
to the formation of uric acid in the system.Purines increase lactate production which then competes (and loses) with
uric acid for excretion.

In addition to avoiding the above purine containing
foods, Byram recommends not eating any foods cooked in heated oils. This
includes anything labelled “fried” including "roasted" nuts.It also means staying out of most restaurants
or fast food establishments.

Bryam reasons that fats used for cooking, once heated
even a little, will oxidize and turn rancid very quickly and even though they
don't necessarily taste bad when this happens, he believes they “have become
poison for an individual with gout”.He says
that rancid fats destroy Vitamin E which is a major antioxidant that the body
utilizes in cleaning up oxidative damage in the system.Destruction of Vitamin E triggers the release
of increased uric acid into the system which will promote an attack.

Recently, I have become aware of people who develop
gout as a side effect of their medication. It is really important to read all
the small print on any tablets you are taking and see if there is a mention of
gout as a side effect. If it is there, it is worthwhile eliminating high purine
foods and alcohol from your diet and increasing your fluid intake before you
experience an attack, rather than waiting for the pain and then acting.

Finally, I would like to discuss the issue of food as
medicine. I have noticed that when I suggest something to someone who does not
normally include herbs as medicines in their diet, they try to interpret what I
have suggested into something they can easily understand and incorporate into
their current lifestyle rather than taking on board exactly what I’ve said.

One example of this was an elderly gentleman who was
suffering with extreme constipation. I suggested he try including fresh or
dried figs in his diet. Both he and his daughter looked at me with a slightly
puzzled expression and said, “Would bananas be as good?”

My second example comes from the wife of a transplant
patient whose extremely painful gout came from his numerous medications. His
doctors could do nothing for the pain. I suggested fresh potato juice but
instead of trying this, she reinterpreted my suggestion as “leek and potato
soup”. I didn’t have the heart to tell her she would probably see no effect
whatsoever from the soup except as a comfort food because the medicinal pain
relieving aspects came from concentrated fresh potato juice.

Celery is another case in point. Eating the vegetable
either fresh or cooked will help but the diuretic effects will not be as great
as using a tea made from the dried seeds. Including celery in your diet can be
greatly beneficial but when a gout attack happens, use the concentrated form –
the seeds.